Group Info

If Alastair Cook was searching for inspiration over the last few days, while on
his mid-tour sojourn to Dubai, he could have done no better than casting back to
his debut series, in India a little over a decade ago. Botas Tipo Ugg Rojas . On that occasion too,
an England side beset by injuries headed for Mumbai after a chastening defeat in
Mohali, trailing in the series and seemingly without much hope of finding a way
back.What followed was, quite simply, extraordinary. Englands Ring of Fire
victory at the Wankhede was their first Test win in India in 21 years and the
most memorable moment of Andrew Flintoffs brief (and turbulent) captaincy. It
also provided Shaun Udal, a 37-year-old offspinner making what turned out to be
his final international appearance, with the story to tell his grandchildren.
Mumbai 2006 was unforgettable for a number of reasons, not least because, in
Udals words, it was probably the only good Test match I had.So how did India end
up getting bowled out by an Englishman called Shaggy in one crazy hour on the
final afternoon to leave the series level? It is a tale that deserves
retelling.Cook may recall the game less fondly on a personal level. While
Englands captain is expected to walk out with a new opening partner this week,
as a 21-year-old he did not make it down the dressing-room steps - an upset
stomach removed him from action two Tests after a prodigious debut (still the
only Test he has missed since) and handed Owais Shah a long-awaited cap. With
Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick having departed the tour before the
series began, it meant Ian Bell opened the batting for the only time in his Test
career.England also had to bring in a young James Anderson for his first Test in
more than a year due to Steve Harmisons shin problem, and with the expectation
that the pitch was going to turn square, Udal returned to partner Monty Panesar,
another newbie who had debuted alongside Cook in Nagpur. Udal had himself missed
the first two matches with illness but was told by Flintoff and the coach,
Duncan Fletcher, the day before that he would be playing. Coincidentally, the
match was scheduled to begin on Udals 37th birthday.A county stalwart who took
more than 800 first-class wickets over two decades of service for Hampshire and
Middlesex, Udal had been involved in ten ODIs between 1994 and 1995 but only
made his Test bow in late 2005. After bowling on ridiculously flat, low,
non-turning pieces of concrete in Pakistan - arduous enough to send Ashley Giles
home needing hip surgery - Udal went into the Mumbai Test as Englands senior
spinner, with three wickets from as many Tests and a bowling average of 92.33.
Happy birthday, Shaun.When youre sitting in the last-chance saloon, as Udal knew
he was, youd better hope someone buys you a drink - which is effectively what
Indias captain, Rahul Dravid, did. It was a strange Test because they won the
toss and bowled, which was a bit of a surprise, Udal remembers. India had gone
with a five-man attack, including three quicks - Sreesanth returning alongside
Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel - and wanted to see if there was anything in the
surface. England, handed a slice of luck, scoffed it down: Andrew Strauss made
128, his first century in Asia, while Shah battled cramp to score 88 and
Flintoff added a fifty.We got our way to 400 and we thought we were always in
the game, Udal says. But the Indian line-up of that day and age was just
amazing. Matthew Hoggard and Anderson made the job a little easier by removing
Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar but Dravid looked secure in the company of
Yuvraj Singh by the close of the second day. Whats more, Udal had seen four
wicketless overs disappear for 27 - the ESPNcricinfo report described his
bowling as a liability - and was in need of another metaphorical arm around the
shoulder.Enter an unlikely England saviour: Shane Warne, who played alongside
Udal for several seasons at Hampshire during the latter part of their careers.
Warnes captaincy brought out the best in Udal, whom he encouraged to be a more
confident, attacking spinner. If it wasnt for him, Im sure I wouldnt have played
Test match cricket, Udal says now. Back in 2006, it was a well-timed telephone
call from Australia that helped turned his fortunes around.I remember not
bowling very well at all in the first four-five overs, going for six an over and
thinking, What am I doing here? I was sweating, just in a bad place, really.
Then I got a call that night from Warnie, who was playing somewhere in
Australia, asking hows it going. I said its been a bit of a struggle, and he
said, Youve got to believe in yourself, got to remember that youre there on
merit, not just there to make up the numbers. It could be your last chance and
you dont want to be remembered as someone who didnt give it your best shot on
your last go - just relax, mate, and go and enjoy it. What have you got to
lose?A beer with another former Hampshire team-mate, Robin Smith - who knew
plenty about the highs and lows of life as an England cricketer - reinforced the
message and Udal went into the third day finally feeling ready to grasp his
opportunity. Anderson claimed four wickets as England whittled India out for
279, but the wicket of Pathan, who chipped Udal to mid-on, might have been the
most significant. It felt like Id got a five-for. All of a sudden I felt like,
it was only one wicket but I do belong in this company, I can do well for
England.Udal was back on the field later in the day as nightwatchman and he
began to sense that his luck had changed. First, Darrell Hair failed to spot an
edge to the keeper, then he was dropped by Yuvraj at gully; the next morning
Udal went on to score 14, adding 40 with Shah after England had wobbled batting
second time around on a lead of 121.The real work was still to come, though.
Flintoff made his second fifty of the match as England ground out 191 from 92.4
overs, setting India 313 in just over three sessions. Pathan, asked to open the
batting after Sehwag had suffered a back spasm, fell before the close and Anil
Kumble, in as nightwatchman, went early on the fifth day to Hoggard. Flintoff
removed Wasim Jaffer, but with India three down at lunch and Dravid - who batted
almost two hours for 9 - and Tendulkar at the crease, a draw seemed the most
likely result. Panesar was battling nerves and Flintoff only turned to Udal in
the 31st over, with the interval approaching.Then came another fateful
intervention, via Flintoffs CD player. Johnny Cashs Ring of Fire captured the
mood in the dressing room and England strolled back on to the field ready to
rock n roll. It was very much spur of the moment, everyone was singing,
clapping, cheering, even Duncan Fletcher was in a good mood, Udal says. It
relaxed people and we walked out, still singing the song as we were taking our
fielding positions. We werent thinking about what we supposed to be doing, and
everything just happened…Everything, concisely put, was India losing their last
seven wickets in the space of 92 balls. Flintoff was the catalyst, removing
Dravid in the first over back, and then Udal, tossing up his offbreaks into the
footmarks, delivered the coup de grace: Sachin managed to inside-edge one that
spun a bit, Ian Bell took a very good catch and I went off on a silly dance
about 100 yards away.It might as well have been a victory dance. The tourists
were energised and a hobbling Sehwag did not last long but England then missed
what seemed like a crucial chance when MS Dhoni hit Udal straight up in the air
- only for Panesar to get nowhere near catching it. He blamed the sun, which was
in the opposite direction. That was a bit of a moment like, Oh my god, what have
you just done? You dont know what to say in that situation, youre just
speechless. Panesar redeemed himself a few balls later, when Dhoni picked him
out again - though Udal had already given up on it. I was walking back to my
mark, didnt think hed catch it for a second - after the first effort, I didnt
think hed get anywhere close. But he did, thankfully.The jig was up for India.
Udal took two of the last three to fall, including the wicket that clinched
victory, to finish with a scarcely believable 4 for 14 from 9.2 overs. Amazing
how one hour of your life can just change everything, he says. All it took was
nearly 250 first-class matches, a bit of luck at the toss and a phone call from
Warne.The whole thing did [make it more satisfying], it was just right place,
right time, to a degree. Ashley Giles was injured, they didnt want to risk a
youngster going on a tour to Pakistan and India… It all sort of panned out that
it was my day, because I had that experience.You know, going into day five, on a
pitch that was very brown, a pitch that was turning, there were footmarks - this
is when spinners are supposed to win games for your team. I knew that. I knew
Monty was going to get the nod before me. He underperformed, which put a bit
more pressure on me - but I knew this was my last chance, probably ever, and I
just thought, all I can do is my best and thats what I did.After the game,
Tendulkar signed the match ball and gave it to Udal (he has since given it to
his parents). I generally say he was unlucky because he got the one ball that I
spun in Test match cricket. Its a throwaway line but it is nice, when people ask
What was your greatest moment?, to say, Well, I got Sachin Tendulkar out in
India in his own backyard in the fourth innings of a five-day Test match and we
went on to win the game - first England Test win in India for 21 years. It was
nice to play a significant role in that.England won again in Mumbai six years
later, with Panesar and Graeme Swann sharing 19 wickets, but Udal admits it is
very much odds against them making it three in a row. Injuries have again taken
their toll, and although Cook has a veteran offspinner at his disposal, Gareth
Batty is not expected to keep his place for the fourth Test. Then there are the
gaps in the top order. First-innings runs are crucial, Udal says. In the last
Test match, we didnt get enough.Nevertheless, the link to 2006 is clear. England
havent got much left to lose and, as Udal recalls, having your back against the
wall can, paradoxically, be liberating: It was a bit more relaxed, because those
things make you relaxed, you just walked in and thought What else can go wrong?
After all, things might just be about to go right. Botas
Australianas . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with
their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although
English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea
could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Botas Tipo Ugg Chocolate . The players spoke
Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after
Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators
decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season. http://www.botasuggtiendaonline.es/ . The
Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a
penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru
Maxim. She had to figure the worst part was over, that youre all paid up with
someone, somewhere after breaking your neck at 24. But then Jillion Potter woke
up and found the swelling in her jaw.She had recovered enough from the
frightening rugby injury to not just walk away, but play the sport at a high
level again.It wasnt even a tackle, recalled Potter, now 30 and a member of the
U.S. rugby team that will compete in Rio as the sport returns to the Olympics
for the first time in 92 years. It was definitely a fluke accident. I kind of
just got hit from behind, and ... it was absolutely terrifying. I remember
saying to my teammate Jamie Burke, Im not going to move. My neck popped and Im
scared.That was in 2010, when the fractured C5 vertebra, torn ligaments and
ruptured disk that could have paralyzed her didnt. Instead, it made her stronger
for a bigger challenge she could not have anticipated.At such a young age, you
think youd lose everything, she said of the neck injury. Your whole world is
coming down. And so when cancer came, I was just like, All right, here we go
again.Potter had just returned from a vacation to Alaska with her wife, Carol
Fabrizio, in April 2014 and said her first inclination was to assume the lump
had something to do with camping or some other outdoor activity. We just thought
it was a virus and kind of blew it off as a sickness, Potter said.When a tumor
was detected by an ultrasound weeks later, the results were inconclusive. An MRI
revealed that it was slow-growing, and Potter kept on training in France for the
2014 World Cup. But Potters phone calls to Fabrizio back home were alarming.She
was talking about how it was getting bigger, Fabrizio said, and I could hear her
voice changing, so I knew something was going on. I said, When you get back to
the States, you have to go [back to the doctor]. We cant ignore this.After the
World Cup, Potter had a 10-centimeter tumor removed. The diagnosis: stage III
synovial sarcoma, one of the rarest forms of soft-tissue cancer.Some people say,
Well, shes strong enough, shell beat it. But I dont like that because thats not
how cancer works, right? Fabrizio said. But I did know she would have the best
attitude possible and that shes the best patient. If the doctor tells her to
drink 17 glasses of water every day, shell do it. So I knew she would give
herself the best chance she could.The treatment plan was chemotherapy and then
radiation. Four-day stints of chemo every 21 days. By the second cycle, Potter
recalled, she would cry on the way to the hospital. But other than those few
moments, Fabrizio said there wasnt a lot of uplifting she had to do.Instead, she
remembered how Potter, in the hospital for chemo treatments, jumped up and
offered her hospital bed when a visitor needed a seat, and pulled her IV pole,
draped with a USA Rugby jersey, while delivering coloring books to the childrens
hospital.Thats just her, Fabrizio said. She would always make sure when the
nurses came in to ask, How is your day going? She could have been throwing up
five seconds before and thats literally her next thing: How was your day? She
genuinely cared how that nurses day was going.Your character is how you act when
things are hard. Its easy to be a great person when youre on top of the world,
but how you act when things are really crappy tells a different side of your
story and your character.Potter called it a transition when she lost her hair
and her eyelashes. But she admits the little things were tough, like once trying
to go into a womens restroom and being told, The mens room is over there.I just
ignored it and kept going, she said.It was rugby, Potter said, that taught her
about resilience and persistence. A self-described skaateboard chick as a child,
she didnt play organized sports until seventh grade, when she started playing
basketball. Zapatillas De Casa Ugg Mujer. She wanted to
continue playing basketball in college, until she was introduced to rugby as a
club sport at the University of New Mexico.Immediately attracted to the
physicality of rugby, Potter said she also loved its inclusiveness. In rugby
15s, in particular, if youre tall, if youre stout, whatever, theres a spot for
you, she said.There was more than just a spot for Potter, who made the U.S.
under-19 team six months after learning the sport, the U23 club six months
later, and shortly after that the senior national team.U.S. womens coach Richie
Walker said he remembers the first time he met Potter in 2007, when she was
playing in her first camp for rugby sevens, a faster, higher-scoring version of
the traditional 15-on-15, and the format that will be played in the
Olympics.Walker was assisting Ric Suggitt, the head coach at the time, and all
four coaches at the camp were asked to rank the 50 or so players by ability.I
ranked her No. 1, and the other coaches who had been part of the program for a
while started laughing, Walker said. They had other players ranked first for the
morning session, but Ric flipped over his paper, and he had Jill Potter as well.
The others had picked who they knew and who had been there a while, but Jill was
the best player.Walker is still a fan.For me, its just her attitude and how she
attempts everything she does, he said. Thats what I noticed in that first
training camp. She wasnt scared or shy. It was an unknown situation, and she
just played hard and had fun.You take how Jill has handled cancer, and its the
same thing. Nothing fazes her. Shes not afraid of any challenge.Though she
worried about whether she would be able to return to rugby at the level she had
attained before her illness, Potter said she was more concerned about how her
coaches and teammates would treat her.Just because Ive had this challenge doesnt
make me special or mean I need special treatment, Potter said, who returned
after she finished radiation, less than six months after finishing chemo, but
would leave the team every three months for tests. The agreement [with Walker]
was, Im going to treat you like any athlete, and I was like, I want you to push
me even harder.Potter had the same request of her teammates.For the first couple
training [sessions], Walker said, the other girls were a bit skeptical and hit
Jill really nicely, and Jill would be like, Damn it, hit me, because Im going to
hit you.Potter said she relied on her identity as an athlete during treatments
-- battling the cancer cells -- and counted on that mindset in her recovery and
training.Fabrizio, once an amateur rugby player, remembers Potter struggling on
a hill at the end of a run they took together not long after chemo ended.When
youre used to being as good an athlete as she is and have a hard time running a
relatively short distance, she was having a hard time with it emotionally,
Fabrizio said. And I said, Hey, Im not going to be beating you too much longer.
She was getting better. ... We ran a half-marathon about eight weeks after she
finished treatment, and she was definitely the one setting the pace, and I was
dragging along behind her.Asked whether Potter is back to normal, both smile at
the word.She doesnt want to be the cancer patient, Fabrizio said. She doesnt
want to have that identity. But she does have this kind of resilience, and she
cant shake that even if she wanted to. I think shes normal, yeah. I think shes
better than normal. Cheap NFL
JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys
ChinaCheap Jerseys From
ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys
AuthenticWholesale
Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys
ChinaNFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '